Carrerahill

Seems about right to me. A couple of points - I would bring the 32mm right in, the less joints the better, this also presumably lets you keep the 32mm pipe connection in an accessible place, ideally you would fit all the gubbins as it enters, in the correct order, NRV, stop-cock, drain off things like that, however, and I will be criticised for this, your old setup is probably just a pipe in, stop-cock then off to the rest. If so you could just replicate that as it works just now, your private water supply is just that, private. So, unless your involved in any work that building control are looking at and this is in that space then no one will ever give you grief. You will then need to cap off the old incoming section of the water pipe and the system will then just work in reverse from the utility. For disinfecting the pipes... if it was capped, above ground and no ground water has go into it I would just hook it up and run off the water for 15 minutes near the stop-cock i.e. in the utility, so that water is not being dragged through your whole system. Or I would stick a cup of bleach into the pipe, water it up and let it sit, then run off again.

That depends on the agreement, contract etc. it is entirely possible the OP owns his drawings. Bearing in mind it is very common that multiple practises and disciplines may take a project from concept to completion it is common for rights to be bought or be part of the scope of works. We use other peoples drawings and indeed allow others to use our drawings all the time, totally legitimately, it's just a question of £'s. A typical NOS project we would have the following terms in our contract - obviously we only deploy these sort of terms where the project involvement would deem this to be acceptable: "At any agreed point of cessation or completion of services, as outlined in the scope of works documentation and agreed project contract documentation, where no monies are owed, the right of the information or data may be released to the client. Terms of use are outlined in section 34.5.6 of the standard data release T&C's. Basically within those T&C's we say that they cannot use the drawings against us in any arbitration etc. etc. etc. and that the drawings cannot be edited and then issued under our original titleblocks etc. etc. etc.

What is he using your drawings for? Surely they show everything for your build with your address, location plan etc? Your architect and or you own these drawings. I would sue him if someone used our firms drawings without prior written authorisation - realistically I would only need to have our legal dept. send the threat and that would shut it down but we would go the full way if pushed.

Where does your soil stack vent? Does it come out via a vent tile in the roof or even just a 1-2' section of pipe sticking up?

Lead every time. I had never used rolled lead in my life until earlier this year. To be honest, there are a lot of good instructional videos on YouTube and if you have a good knack for making things and working with your hands you should be grand. The trick is also to work in about 4-5' lengths max, for several reasons, however, the most important being expansion and contraction, big long pieces of lead will crack or split. Long pieces are also difficult to work with and are heavy to work into place and get up onto the roof! I actually found lead nice stuff to work with, I enjoyed it's malleability and it's compliance to be worked into some odd shapes. I scored it with a sharp Stanley knife and used tin-snips to cut it. I used pieces of 2x8 and 2x4 as formers and a piece of 1.5x1.5 and a foot long as a sort of press. Keeping the lead indoors and warm before working it will help no end or outside in the sun (too late in the year now). I dressed our lead down over the profile of the roof tile on warm days and you could almost do it with your fingers although I found that the shaft of a hammer was good to gently tap it down (lead beater was too big) the result is a row of nice little dressed down sections tight to the tile. I used diesel as patination oil.

Now what was complicated about: Generally an isolator is for the isolation of an electrical circuit which is already open - i.e. they ought not to be used to kill loads or connect loads, they also should have a greater distance between the contacts to ensure isolation. Switches are designed to switch loads on and off.

The logic is that connected plant will probably be serviced in situ and still all hooked up - a fridge or freezer or microwave won't. A cooker and hob can go on a spur (unless it's greater than 13A supply then most of the cooker switches are actually double pole switches.

On the contrary, I have never seen a new chain straight out the box as sharp as a good condition hand sharpened chain or fully dressed up brand new chain. Much like chisels only come ready for the final sharpening, almost no chisel comes ready for use from the factory, a brand new chain needs brought up to final full sharpness. Sure you can use them out the box, like a chisel, but they are not actually ready yet. I get chain from a tree surgeon who buys it on 100' rolls, the chain is good, sharp enough you can cut your fingers on it if you are not careful but after a quick dressing up it is lethal!

I don't quite get your point point - it's not going to be sharp all the time, like any chain it will just return to near as new cutting condition, until it is too worn, when it is sharpened. Given the aggressiveness of the sharpening procedure I suspect you will remove more material with every sharpening than a typical round file in the link gullet and 1-5 sharpening tip dressing. To be fair, I suspect they are good for the home user who lacks the skills to do it properly, no professional would ever use one. This is a bit like many of the total gimmick tools sold to DIYers that you would never see a pro with.

Only issue is you need to run the special chain which appear to be double the price of a good Stihl, Husqvarna, Oregon, Carlton chain. I'd rather have 2 chains and just keep them sharp. If every time you pickup your saw to work you run a file through the teeth you will keep it good and it won't take much work to remove the dullness - on bigger jobs just swap chains halfway through or when it gets dull. To be honest I have run chainsaws for decades and always just got on fine with a set of files.

Generally an isolator is for the isolation of an electrical circuit which is already open - i.e. they ought not to be used to kill loads or connect loads, they also should have a greater distance between the contacts to ensure isolation. Switches are designed to switch loads on and off. A fused spur often will only switch the live, much like an MCB doesn't actually fully isolate a circuit, whereas an isolator will isolate both poles - it sort of depends what you are wiring up. An isolator would be fitted to something that you would want to work on while still installed - plant should really be isolated - a fridge can go on a spur as your really not going to be working on the internals while it is still connected. So on a DB or the main cable-head the isolator disconnects down the whole system. Examples of where I would spec isolation: HVAC units. Compressors (i.e. permanently installed units). Pump systems. Example of where I would spec a spur: Fridge Heater Alarm panel However, as always there is always crossover.

Our new soil stack goes up to roof level of the single storey section of the house, then takes a 90° at the last branch (where a pan connects) then goes about 400mm horizontal (or 92.5°) then through a wall, then 90° and up the side of the house. So I am going to say yes.

The spec is x mm away from an opening, window or vent.

They are all internal now - usually a boxed in pipe runs through the kitchen. They have a vent at roof level.

I'd go to B&Q or a power tool merchant and have a look and feel - I hate to say this, but even if you don't buy from them. I was going to buy a Samsung Microwave combination oven grill thing, looked good, got good reviews, large capacity, so I looked about and was about to order it when I thought to myself, no I need to go and feel and touch these. So I took myself to Currys and found the model I was looking at, it did look nice, well built, controls a little fussy but the handle, dear me, it was like a piece of plastic they would use to seal a steak in! It was so flimsy and felt cheap and the whole handle assembly made a creaking plastic noise when you pulled it. That was the end of the line for that model for me! I ended up buying a Kenwood machine with a slightly higher spec, it was sat there in front of me in a box so I took it - very pleased with the purchase and it works really well with good functionality. I think you can see my point here! My friend has a £400 Festool, he thinks it is brilliant, I don't like it, it is a bit heavy, the casing is a bit fussy, it's too big and just annoys me - I have no doubt that it is a brilliantly engineered drill and does everything and more - but I always feel happier using my Bosch machine - I like my Bosch so much that I bought a set of new batteries and had a new motor fitted (F.O.C by Bosch as I knew the rep) so as far as I am concerned it is as good as new!

What do you want it for? That is the Bosch domestic range, I wouldn't expect great things from it or perhaps the longest life if you put it to any sort of real use. I personally won't buy DIY grade power tools - but when your building and using them like a pro then it pays to have good tools - I also love tools - I would quite happily go onto Screwfix right now and just buy a saw or drill or something that took my fancy! Keep an eye out on Screwfix and Power Tool World - some professional grade tools for not really much more money. https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/tools/drills/cordless-combi-hammer As @AnonymousBosch says they need fed, pick a manufacturer and go for it - I use Makita and Bosch tools, which lets me limit my batteries to those two types. Makita batteries are expensive but once you have a set of them you can pickup bare tools for really reasonable prices. Sometimes I will also buy a whole drill kit on a deal just to get say 2 x 5.0Ah batteries. I bought a drill for £119 on a deal that came with 2 x 4.0Ah batteries, that was back when the batteries were about £60 each! No brainer and I got another charger. There is also always the scope to sell the bare drill or case or charger on eBay.

Would I be right in thinking your bathroom sits above the kitchen? If you flush the toilet or run the basin do you hear the water coming down that stack? If so I would first check to see if there is a tap running slightly or the toilet cistern is filling constantly and running a little, small amounts of water in stacks can drip down internally and give that noise. I know that would not be connected to the rain but it may be coincidence - although I admit there is a good chance it is connected! Do you have a condensing boiler with a condensate pipe tied into this pipe upstairs? Down lower is there any access point (usually a white sort of round panel in the wall that can be unscrewed). What is below the counter top to the right and left of the pipe, could you for example remove a washing machine or other appliance and cut into the boxed in section and inspect it for an external to the pipe leak - that way if all looks dry you know it is internal and not an issue, or the issue is something like a leaky tap or if it's damp you know you will need to investigate. The chances are it is a single piece of pipe from the branch section on your first floor (or if this is a flat the flat above!) down to the ground floor, so there shouldn't be too many leak points and it is possible there is a leak there. Also, externally, what is your gutter pipe arrangement - your house looks like a fairly recent build so I am going to assume separate rain water and foul systems - so do you have externally mounted down pipes for your gutters?

Just ask him if your finished floor level will match your existing house or ask him to set it to whatever height you want.

If that really is the case throw him off the job. He sounds like an arrogant fool - you pay his wages - you call the shots. Find a some Polish guys and get them in to blitz it I don't want to offend you by saying this, it is not meant as such, but it seems like your possibly not fully aware/understanding of the various stages and building works and then in your naivety stressing out about things that probably require no stress. I saw a post further up this thread where you were discussing deeper founds to allow for more play and allowing for an inch here or an inch there. I don't think that is the case, I think the guy is just going to build your extension as drawn, he will know where floor levels need to go and will make that happen, yes sure, heights to an extent are dictated by heights of stages of the build that precede the floor, but at the same time a foundation is not a good indication of final floor level as so many things can influence this. This thread has grown a bit, disjointed too, could you by reply, please list a summary of your current concerns in simple short sentences. Let me kick this off, if I have understood you correctly, i.e.: 1. Concern that extension floor will not match existing house. 2. Concrete is under 2 inches of water 3. Drainage - please elaborate your base concern here. With this we can look at the way forward. If the guy is working in your garden then surely you go out and ask a few innocent questions of him?

I wonder - thinking aloud here... the drain next door may tie into a drain on the other side, previously, what sort of drive was it next door? Permeable or semi-permeable? and therefore water was just soaking away into the ground, so is the drain just doing its job at reducing ground water, the ground has then started to dry out causing shrinkage?

You are about 5k for a sarking, membrane, batten and tile roof renewal of about 60m - single ridge - no lead etc. If you need a whole new roof then I think your going to be chatting about 10k minimum but don't be surprised to see quotes for 15-20K. It also depends where you are, add another 50% if you are in or near London.

Puraflex 40 if you need to paint over it @Thedreamer I use that for my car restorations and love it - it's a brilliant, polyurethane based product that can be used to stick stuff on, seal things (inc. areas that will be subject to oil and fuel).

I'll see what he has. I don't think I will do mine even next year to be honest. The plan is to have a year off building! Apart from some garden work and maybe a little wall or two - got to stay busy!

No, I just literally went out to my garden and asked him - he showed me a set of galv angle sections in his van that he has had made up for gable wall he is doing next week. They looked good - I liked the simplicity yet very tough looking solution it provided. It will stick in my head this detail as I may do a couple of the "easy" walls on my house in the future and I will be DIYing the install so I now know myself what I will do - crack out the MIG and get some angle going! That reminds me I need a drum of 0.8mm wire! He is not here today - maybe he will have an image I can get next week. He also spoke in great detail about how the guy in 15-20 years time will want to change these windows and his method makes that totally possible. I have just had an idea myself - I would maybe weld little lugs onto the frame, so the window gets pushed out hard against the lugs, it's then fixed internally, but once it's sitting in the angles and hard against the lugs it cannot push out, and could literally just be held in by the woodwork/trim around it and a couple of suitable fixings to lock it all into place. By the time you seal them all up they are going nowhere. The windows have been installed in my extension for about 4 months with 4 screws! Including some 2.4m wide - they are not going anywhere and cannot fall out as the block work comes over about 5mm to lock them in.

Height to eaves, pitch, tile or slate, how long is the ridge, any hips and valleys? How long is a piece of string? FYI - My garage roof is 39m - it cost me about £330 in concrete tiles, £50 in ridge tiles, £80 in dry verge units, £80 for a roll of membrane, £60 for roofing battens, £30 for a dry ridge kit - took me a couple of weekends on my own.